Omega-3 Fatty Acids Linked to Risk of Prostate Cancer

FRIDAY, July 12 (HealthDay News) -- High blood concentrations of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer, according to research published online July 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Theodore M. Brasky, Ph.D., of The Ohio State University in Columbus, and colleagues conducted a case-cohort study using data from participants in the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial to assess the association between plasma phospholipid fatty acids and risk of prostate cancer. The analysis involved cases of 834 men diagnosed with prostate cancer, including 156 men with high-grade cancer and a subcohort of 1,393 men frequency-matched from the same age and race stratum.

The researchers found that, compared with men in the lowest quartiles of long-chain omega-3 PUFA, men in the highest quartile had increased risk for low-grade prostate cancer (hazard ratio [HR], 1.44), high-grade prostate cancer (HR, 1.71), and total prostate cancer (HR, 1.43). Similar associations were observed for individual long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

"This study confirms previous reports of increased prostate cancer risk among men with high blood concentrations of long-chain omega-3 PUFA," the authors write. "The consistency of these findings suggests that these fatty acids are involved in prostate tumorigenesis."